PICKENS COUNTY – Lifelong resident of Pickens County and Master Deputy for the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office, Elijah Chapman, is following his family’s role in public service.
“When I was very young, I met a distant cousin of mine who was a secret service agent,” Chapman said. “I thought it was the coolest thing ever, and he started out as a street cop in Texas. He rose through the ranks and ended up being a personal protective agent for several Presidents.”
Chapman said that his father spent 30 years in uniform as a firefighter and that public service is a big part of his family.
Chapman is a 2002 graduate of Oconee Christian Academy in Seneca where he played for the soccer team.
Following high school, he attended Tri-County Technical College and earned an Associate’s degree in Criminal Justice.
On his 21st birthday, Chapman began his career in law enforcement for the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.
Chapman is a 2006 graduate of the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy and joined the ranks of the Central Police Department that same year.
“My goal is to police where I live,” Chapman said. “The big benefit is community service, and Anderson County is not the community in which I live. It is not just a job, it is a calling and Pickens County is where I live and work.”
Chapman joined the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office in July of 2007 as a lake patrol officer and was promoted to master deputy in 2010.
He joined Bravo Team of the road patrol in 2011.
Chapman said that his involvement with the Explorer Program at the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office is an extra bonus.
He was a member of the Law Enforcement Explorer Post at the Clemson Police Department from the ages of 14 to 21.
“Law Enforcement Exploring is a program for young adults and our job as Explorer advisers is to show young people interested in a career in law enforcement what it is all about,” Chapman said. “We give them training and it is very intensive.”
Chapman has been trained in advanced DUI detection and crisis negotiation.
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